Opinion

August 13, 2013

By Steve Boggs

During last weekâ€™s Benton Chamber of Commerce Summit event, leaders from the pillars of this community gave updates on their institutions and some insight on challenges facing them in the future. Themed â€śCome Grow With Us,â€ť the summit was designed to position the city of Benton as an area on the verge of a substantial growth spurt.

August 7, 2013

By Shelby Woodall

It is in every true Americanâ€™s blood. When August hits, you cannot help but feel a sliver of anxiety course through your body when the first high school game is around the bend.
Maybe it is the flicker of the Friday night lights or it is the chill every fan gets when the winning touchdown is scored.
No matter what your favorite part of football is, it is undeniable that this is a great American pastime that has been shared throughout the ages.
Some of the greatest sports coaches in history belonged to Americaâ€™s football teams.

August 6, 2013

By David Hughes

Looks like the new splash pad park is a big hit, but compared to the fun we had as kids at the Tyndall Park Pool â€“ itâ€™s got be â€śâ€¦ like kissinâ€™ your sister ... â€ť
I donâ€™t mean to denigrate the effort and treasure put into the attraction, but letâ€™s face it â€“ it DOES have a limited attention span for children, young folks and parents.

August 5, 2013

By Lynda Hollenbeck

In the mid-1990s I had the privilege of interviewing actress Shirley Jones.
She had been my movie heroine for many years, so I was thrilled when she came to Little Rock for a promotional event that included the showing of "Oklahoma!," the marvelous movie she made with Gordon MacRae.
I don't remember the arrangements that made it possible for me to spend time with her, but I do know I jumped at the opportunity.
The "Oklahoma!" showing in LR was at the old Cinema 150, which was a delightful venue for the days when I was a frequent viewer of Hollywood's offerings.

July 31, 2013

By Shelby Woodall

If you channel into the Food Network, you may just be welcomed with a resounding, â€śHey yâ€™all!â€ť Or will you? Paula Deen is a well-known and arguably well-loved celebrity chef whose signature mediums are butter and Southern charm.
Recently, Deen has undergone some hate because of alleged racial slurs and behavior.

July 30, 2013

By Lynda Hollenbeck

You may not know this, but July is National Ice Cream Month. Other than the flag, could anything possibly be more American than ice cream?
As an ice cream zealot, I proudly take up the familiar chant of "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream."
Don't know who coined that, but it's a gem.
I'm proud there's a designated time to celebrate ice cream, but for me it never goes out of season. The mercury can dip well below the freezing mark, but I still enjoy the taste of this treat â€” summer, winner, springtime and fall.

July 30, 2013

Sometimes, it's not what you do, but when you do it that makes all the difference. The evidence to support this statement can be found in history and all around us.
In recent weeks, a movement to take Saline County from dry status to a wet county has been forming. This isn't the first time an effort regarding alcohol in the county has been knocked around and likely won't be let last, regardless of the outcome. If the effort is successful, somewhere down the line of history, an attempt to revert back to dry status will gain momentum.

July 24, 2013

By Jennifer Joyner

I remember my motherâ€™s 32nd birthday pretty well. This is partly because she â€” sweet lady that she is â€” kept the birthday card my brother and I made her hanging on her bedroom wall for several years.
It was a large card, made with poster board instead of paper.
It featured a picture I drew of my mother with a humongous cake.
The only parts of her that were visible in the drawing were her legs behind the huge cake, and there was a little caption bubble that read: â€śWho turned out the lights???â€ť

July 22, 2013

By Lynda Hollenbeck

Did you ever stop to analyze an expression and wonder where it came from?
An example is: "Round up the usual suspects."
How many times have you heard that line? Police people often use it jokingly, but I wonder how many people â€” even the police â€” know where it started.
Like many expressions that have found their way into common conversation, this one originated in a movie â€” one of my favorites, in fact â€” "Casablanca." Claude Rains as Capt. Louis Renault says it in one of the memorable scenes from the 1942 film classic that I never tire of watching.

July 22, 2013

By Steve Boggs

If youâ€™re like me, your internal clock is set to the school year, not the regular calendar. The year begins in August, when school starts, and ends in July. While the Dog Days of Summer officially began July 3 and do not end until Aug. 11 (according to the Old Farmerâ€™s Almanac), the last two weeks of July are really the heart of the Dog Days.